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Opera

The Bartered Bride

Bedřich Smetana
The National Theatre
The Year of Czech music
For the whole family
English surtitles

Choose date

  • December
  • February 2025
  • March 2025
  • April 2025
  • May 2025
    December 2024

    Wednesday 11. 12.
    19:00

    Tickets available

    The Year of Czech music
    For the whole family
    English surtitles
    February 2025

    Saturday 15. 2.
    19:00

    Tickets available

    Change of date
    Program change
    The Year of Czech music
    For the whole family
    English surtitles

    Thursday 20. 2.
    19:00

    Tickets available

    The Year of Czech music
    For the whole family
    English surtitles
    March 2025

    Sunday 2. 3.
    19:00

    Tickets available

    The Year of Czech music
    For the whole family
    English surtitles
    April 2025

    Thursday 10. 4.
    19:00

    Tickets available

    The Year of Czech music
    For the whole family
    English surtitles
    May 2025

    Wednesday 14. 5.
    19:00

    Tickets available

    The Year of Czech music
    For the whole family
    English surtitles

    Basic information

    Venue

    The National Theatre

    Approximate running time

    3 hours, 2 intermission (20 minutes) minutes

    Language

    In Czech, surtitles in Czech, English

    Premiere

    Premiere: 22 and 24 April 2021 at the National Theatre

    For over 150 years, The Bartered Bride has occupied the top position among Czech operas. Said to be now part of the Czech DNA, its popularity eclipses that of any other feted Bedřich Smetana opera. Yet at the time when it came into being, in the 1860s, The Bartered Bride was a rather audacious experiment.

    Cast

    • 2024-2025

    Creatives

    Stage director
    Alice Nellis
    Set and Light design
    Matěj Cibulka
    Choreography / Movement coach
    Klára Lidová
    Chorus master
    Pavel Vaněk
    Dramaturgy
    Ondřej Hučín

    About

    National Theatre Chorus
    National Theatre Orchestra

    National Theatre Opera Ballet 

    Smetana and the librettist Karel Sabina masterfully mocked all those who expected the “national opera” to be an idyllic picture of the Czech countryside, with its inhabitants being virtuous and governed by high morals. The Bartered Bride is thus far more humorous than “national”. Nonetheless, its humour is precisely of the type Czechs so love, and hence Smetana’s opera, abounding in irony, scathing, occasionally even cynical, wit, as well as tenderness and simple joie de vivre, has ultimately become “national” in the best sense of the word ...
    The National Theatre has presented many adaptations of The Bartered Bride, which has always been a staple of its repertoire. The 21st production of The Bartered Bride was entrusted to the film and stage director Alice Nellis. What prevails this time? Sentimental foregrounding of the life in a picturesque Czech village, or jest and the self-irony with which Smetana and Sabina imbued their opera? As interpreted by Alice Nellis, The Bartered Bride this time does not only poke fun at villagers of bygone times, but also at those who for generations have striven to find the formula for restaging the Czech "opera of operas“. Accordingly, the current production of The Bartered Bride does not only retell the story of Mařenka, Jeník, Vašek and Kecal, it is also about “how opera is made“ – how rehearsals proceed, how it gradually assumes a theatrical shape, how the director tries to make the opera “modern”, how the others frown at his endeavours, what can happen at the rehearsals,
    and how The Bartered Bride finally finds the right form – merry indeed, as well as moving and visually beautiful!

    WARNING: We use tobacco products during the performance.
    Suitable for audience from 10 years.

    Photo and video gallery

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    Goods detail

    Programme Bartered Bride

    A programme for the production of the Bartered Bride.

    80 Kč

    Only 2 items in stock

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    Practical information

    Where to buy tickets

    The National Theatre sells tickets up to 6 months in advance. We are currently selling tickets for performances of Drama, Ballet, Opera and Laterna magika taking place in December 2024 – May 2025.


    When purchasing online, you can get an e-ticket. You can pick up printed tickets in person at the box offices of the National Theatre.

    Parking at the National Theater

    While visiting The National Theatre and the New Stage you can use again the underground car park of the National Theatre. Information and a parking fee.

     

    What to wear?

    By their appearance, attire and behaviour, the audience is obliged to adhere to the accustomed practice expected from them when attending a theatre performance.

    Buffets at the National Theater

    No waiting. For your benefit, please pre-order your food and beverages at the bar to minimize waiting in the queue!

    Menu (PDF, 60 kB)